


Babysitting

by passionate_fruit



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Gen, but that depends on if anyone even reads this, cute toddler jeremy heere, i may or may not add more characters but they're the main ones, kinda want to let the people vote on the adventures that happen, the squip messes stuff up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-04 13:55:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11556597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/passionate_fruit/pseuds/passionate_fruit
Summary: The SQUIP had supposedly been deactivated for months. Michael was glad to have his friend back, and glad none of those... horror stories happened to Jeremy. But the universe had apparently decided that was too easy.Now Michael has to care for a five-year-old Jeremy. He hoped it would be at least somewhat easy. But that was before he remembered how clumsy Jeremy was as a kid.(Random de-aged fic because no one else has written one yet as far as I know of)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to say I'm a pretty good writer, but I may be alone in that opinion. If there's anything you want me to improve tell me.

Michael grinned as he opened the door to Jeremy’s house. “I’m here!” he called loudly.

“Hey Michael,” Mr. Heere spoke from the direction of the living room, “make sure to lock the door.” Michael complied before making his way to the room Mr. Heere was in. “Jeremy is upstairs in his room,” he smiled before returning to his papers, “...try not to stay up too late.”

Michael snorted. “Of course we won’t!” Michael replied sarcastically. Mr. Heere rolled his eyes.

“At least try to be quiet. I have work in the morning.”

Michael nodded, smiling as he marched up the stairs to Jeremy’s room. He was having a sleepover, and he made sure to bring enough videogames and energy drinks that there wouldn’t be much sleeping.

He opened the door to Jeremy’s room to find Jeremy sprawled out on the floor by his desk. On the computer was what Michael assumed to be the six-page history essay Jeremy had complained about at lunchtime. Michael laughed as Jeremy hit his head on the chair as he tried to stand up.

“Ugh. I can’t believe my dad made me do all my homework before he let you come over.” Jeremy said.

Michael shrugged. “He did say he was gonna try to be a better dad.” Jeremy hummed in response as he quickly saved his paper and shutdown the computer. “At least you don’t have to worry about it over the weekend now.”

Jeremy sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I’ve already delayed our video game time by four hours. Let’s not talk about school anymore.”

“Good thing it’s only 7:30. We still have plenty of time to play the new videogame I bought.” Michael said, smirking at the way Jeremy’s eyes went wide. Michael pulled his overnight bag off his shoulder and dug into it for a few seconds before pulling out a brand new game, plastic still on it and everything. Jeremy’s eyes went even wider.

“No way! You got-- how did you-- that’s--!” Michael laughed as Jeremy freaked out over the game in his hands. 

“Yep. Now hurry up and get out of the way so I can put it in!”

-

Michael glanced at Jeremy as his character was brutally murdered on-screen. Sure, it was a new game and they both were screwing up big time, but while Michael was slowly getting better, Jeremy seemed to stay the same. That was definitely unusual. Jeremy sighed and rubbed his eyes as “GAME OVER” flashed across the screen for the ump-teenth time.

Michael wondered if it was okay to make a comment on it. On one hand, he was getting annoyed that they had to play this level so many times. On the other, Jeremy looked like he felt the same way. Michael gripped the controller harder as he pressed the start button once more.

This time, Michael was killed off first, but Jeremy didn’t last long after that. Michael tried not to show his frustration, putting it all into an only slightly angry groan. Jeremy didn’t even glance over to him, but put down his controller and stood up. “You can play without me for a bit. I’ll just... uhh, watch from my bed, I guess?” 

“Yeah, but you’d better join in later. We can play other games too.” Michael frowned when he noticed the way Jeremy winced as he sat down.

“Yeah, okay.” Jeremy said, but his eyes were already starting to close.

Michael picked up his bag and handed it to Jeremy. “Feel free to have whatever food you find in there. I brought a lot!” Michael wondered if the way Jeremy was acting had anything to do with the video game. “Hey,” Michael said gently, “we can change the game game in a little while. I just want to see how far I can get.”

“Mmkay.” There was an emotion in Jeremy’s voice that Michael couldn’t quite place.

“Make sure to watch the clock, tell me when it’s been half an hour.”

-

Michael blinked in surprise when he glanced at the digital clock beside the television. 1:18? That meant he had played for nearly two hours after his half an hour time limit! He turned around to look at Jeremy.

“Dude, I know it couldn’t have been fun to just be sitting there for two and a half hours. Why didn’t you--” Michael’s voice faded out slowly. At first Jeremy appeared to be very focused on the T.V. screen, but then Michael noticed that he seemed to be looking through the television. Not to mention the red eyes and the continuous stream of tears that was pouring out of his eyes. “Jeremy? Buddy? ...You okay?” Michael waved his hand in front of the boy’s face. The only reaction he got was a slow blink.

“Jeremy?” Michael continued, his voice revealing his worry. “Jeremy? Hello? Anybody in there?” Michael laughed nervously. Michael watched his best friend’s face as he slowly brought his hand closer to poke his forehead.

The second his finger touched, Jeremy dropped his head and groaned. Michael once again tried to laugh it off. Jeremy made a few quiet sounds of distress, but didn’t lift his head up.

“Sorry. I have a… small headache.” Jeremy said with a loud but muffled voice. Michael wanted to argue with that, given everything that he’d seen that night, assuming it had in fact lasted that long. How did Michael not figure it out sooner?

Jeremy lifted his head up to rub at his eyes. Michael stood up and sat next to him. “Well, do you need anything? I can go find some medicine or something.”

“No thanks. You can just keep playing, I was fine just watching you.”

“You sure? It didn’t even look like you were watching. I had to wake you up from your daydream while you stared creepily--” Jeremy made a noise of protest. Michael laughed, this time genuinely. “Just don’t focus too hard on the screen. If you strain your eyes your head is only gonna hurt worse.”

Michael stood, walking to the controller he had left on the floor. He didn’t really want to keep playing video games by himself, but he also didn’t want to argue with Jeremy.

He turned to look at the boy on the bed to see Jeremy staring back intently. Michael would make sure to keep an eye on him. It was kind of a bummer for their sleepover, but Michael was content just to be there, to still be friends after all that they had been through over the last 12 years.

-

At some point during the night, Jeremy had fallen asleep. Michael had gotten up to move Jeremy into a better position on the bed, then unpaused and continued his game. He had ended up switching games anyway, hoping that in the morning he and Jeremy could play it together. He turned the volume down until he could just barely hear Jeremy breathing. There were a few times Jeremy would speed up or get louder, but they all passed quickly.

Michael nodded his head to the beat and hummed the tune. He faltered a few times, noticing that Jeremy was now fidgeting in his bed. Michael paused the game but stayed where he was. If Jeremy woke up, Michael would be ready to get him anything.

As Jeremy rolled over, Michael lazily took a sip of his energy drink. He was getting tired, but was in too much of a “mother-hen” mode to sleep just yet. Tomorrow was Saturday anyway, and he had definitely been up later on school nights too. Michael started humming again right before Jeremy started screaming.

Michael literally jumped into action. He was next to Jeremy in milliseconds and was already trying to calm the boy down. He gently grabbed Jeremy’s hand with one of his and soothingly rubbed Jeremy’s back with the other. It took a few seconds for Michael’s brain to catch up with his body, but when it did, his first thought was of Jeremy saying he had a “small headache.”

Tears sprung up in Jeremy’s still closed eyes. Yeah, a small headache. The smallest. 

After a minute or two, Jeremy stopped screaming. Immediately after, Jeremy grabbed onto his pillow and started whimpering. “It hurts, it hurts.” Jeremy repeated over and over.

Michael winced in sympathy. “Yeah, it must. Even with my smallest of headaches, I would rather cut my own arm off than make all the noise you just did.” Michael turned to the nightstand. “I found some Tylenol after you went to sleep, and I better not hear anything about you not wanting to take it.”

Jeremy sat up weakly, his eyes even more red and puffy that they had been before. Michael had to help him hold the cup. As soon as Michael put it back down, Jeremy grabbed onto Michael’s hoodie. Michael readjusted himself and Jeremy so the boy’s head was in his lap. Michael combed the sweaty curly hair out of Jeremy’s face.

“You know your dad has work tomorrow, right?” Jeremy smiled weakly.

“Let’s hope I didn’t wake him up.” Jeremy said, his voice raw. Michael laughed.

“Yeah. Let’s hope your dad somehow went deaf overnight.” Michael said with a roll of his eyes. Jeremy let out a puff of air. Michael watched his face. It sounded weird, but Jeremy somehow looked younger as he drifted back to sleep.

Michael slowly moved his legs, putting Jeremy back on his pillow. Michael set up his own spot to sleep and turned off the T.V. once he didn’t need the light anymore. He let himself slowly fall asleep, still ready in case Jeremy needed him.

-

Michael stretched as he sat up, checking the time on his phone. It was nearly 11, which meant he got… six hours of sleep. Not too bad. He stood up to check on Jeremy.

Michael stumbled back in surprise and nearly broke Jeremy’s shelf. Jeremy wasn’t… he was pretty sure Jeremy wasn’t in his bed. In his place was a young small boy. Michael leaned in closer. A young small boy who looked suspiciously like Jeremy.

“Okay, very funny dude, that’s a really clever way to tell me that you’ve been hiding a little brother from me. Sure got me fooled, all these years I just thought you were an only child…”

Not-Jeremy curled into himself before opening his blue eyes. Small arms shot out of the blanket to help the child sit up. Every second that passed only made Michael less sure that “Not-Jeremy” was actually not Jeremy. The boy sat up on the edge of the bed. “Hi!” Maybe-Jeremy said happily. Michael didn’t know why, but he went along with it.

“Um… hi. Sorry for being in your room. What’s your name?” Michael prayed he didn’t sound creepy.

“My name is Jeremy!” Young Jeremy seemed to completely miss the reason why strangers in your room would be bad. Wait, was he a stranger? Jeremy introduced himself as if he didn’t know him, so Michael assumed Jeremy didn’t.

“Great, I’m Michael!” Jeremy started to look confused so he added, “Your, uh… babysitter.” He still wasn’t sure why he was going along with it, but his mind only supplied that it was important. Thankfully, Jeremy didn’t question him.

“That’s funny!” Jeremy said, and Michael nearly had a heart attack. Then Jeremy continued, “I have a friend named Michael, and you look just like him! I mean, not exactly like him, he’s smaller and…”

Jeremy continued and Michael nodded along, pretending to listen while he thought about what was happening. Jeremy was now a little kid, for whatever reason. Michael was going along with it, mostly because he didn’t know what he should say, but also… Oh no. Michael hoped that wasn’t the cause, but people don’t just shrink for no reason.

“...and my Michael is the same age as me.” Jeremy finished, tugging at his clothes, which Michael noticed were the same clothes Jeremy was wearing last night, only smaller.

“And how old are you?” Michael asked.

“I’m five!” Jeremy said, holding up five fingers. Michael laughed.

“How long have you known your friend?”

“A long time, I think.” Jeremy winced and held his head, which only confirmed Michael’s suspicions. After Jeremy had gotten the squip, Michael had studied for hours, looking for whatever he could find on the pill. Apparently, there had been “special cases” where something would happen to the user’s body. This… this had to be one of them. This is probably why Jeremy had that headache last night. And according to those stories, trying to tell them the truth might make it painful because their brain got confused. That’s why his first instinct was to go along with it. Michael mentally high-fived himself.

“Like… a year?” Michael asked. He already knew the answer, of course. They had met when they were four. Michael didn’t remember much about it. Jeremy pressed his lips together in a cute toddler way, then nodded.

“Probably, I think. A year is long right?” Jeremy had his innocent eyes wide, as if this was very important.

“Yep. They’re pretty long.” Jeremy looked pleased with himself. Michael laughed. “Ok then. Let’s go get some breakfast!” Jeremy’s face lit up and he ran out of the room. Michael followed slowly. According to his research, most of the effects went away anywhere between twenty-four hours to seventy-two. None were permanent that he knew of, and it was apparently less painful the less you brought it up. But he still didn’t know what he was going to do with a five year old all day. But who knows? So far it had been pretty easy.

A loud “thump!” came from downstairs.

He prayed it would continue to be that way.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the worst time trying to get into Rich and Jake's characters? Lol, I tried :)

Michael ran to Jeremy to find that the boy had slipped on the last couple of stairs. He was lying face up, his eyes dazed. “Are you okay?” Michael asked, quickly kneeling beside him. Jeremy jumped at the sound of his voice. Then Jeremy’s eyes locked onto Michael’s, and tears began to fill them.

Jeremy sat up and grabbed Michael’s shirt. He cried loudly, his face turning red. Michael was surprised for a few seconds before he pulled Jeremy into a hug. “Hey, it’s okay, you’re fine, it’s okay.” Michael hoped he sounded comforting. He didn’t really have experience with small children.

Eventually, Jeremy stopped crying. Michael asked again, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” He said wiping at his face.

“Good, because we’re gonna have fun today!” Michael said, standing up with Jeremy still in his arms. Jeremy laughed and grabbed onto Michael’s arm to lean over his shoulder. In truth, Michael had no idea what he was going to do. What had he and Jeremy liked doing when they were younger?

“What are we gonna have for breakfast?” Jeremy asked as Michael walked into the kitchen.

“I dunno. What do you want?”

“Pancakes!” Jeremy yelled enthusiastically, raising his arms in the air. Michael would’ve found it cute had it not have been yelled right into his ear. He set Jeremy down on the counter and starting digging around for a recipe.

-

Michael watched as Jeremy squealed in delight at the stack of pancakes set in front of him. Making pancakes had been harder than he expected, and anyone could tell just by looking at the mess in the kitchen. Jeremy started pouring syrup, and Michael tried to clean up the flour that coated the counter. 

He took small bites of the pancakes he had set aside for himself, but surprisingly the stress of making them shrunk his appetite. Jeremy had wanted to help and Michael had agreed, not knowing that Jeremy was going to try to play with every ingredient. Michael sighed.

Suddenly, the door was thrown open. Jeremy looked up, obviously interested. Michael tried not to panic. How was he even going to explain this to Jeremy’s dad?

“YO WHAT’S UP MOTHERF--” Michael cut Rich off with a loud scream. Rich was here. For… some reason. But that didn’t matter to Michael. Rich had a squip for a long time. Maybe something like this has happened to him?

“Woah, dude. No reason to freak out! It’s just-- oh! Who’s this little dude?” Rich smirked. Michael watched Rich walk up to Jeremy. But why did Rich have that evil glint in his eye? What was Rich… no. HeCK no. Jeremy looked up at Rich and Rich loudly started to whisper. “Fu--”

Michael once again cut Rich off, this time by throwing a pancake directly at his face. Jeremy laughed and Rich shrugged and took a bite of the pancake.

“Okay, fine.” Rich rolled his eyes. “But you didn’t answer me. Who is he?”

“My name’s Jeremy!” Jeremy said waving his sticky, syrupy hands. Rich looked at Jeremy and then up at Michael before busting out laughing.

“How did that happen?” Rich asked in between his laughter and sharp breaths. Then he suddenly got serious. “Was it the squip?” Jeremy looked uncomfortable at the last word. Michael pulled Rich to the side and started whispering.

“I think so.”

“Dude, didn’t you get rid of it?”

“I’m pretty sure I did. Jeremy never said anything about it returning. Has yours come back?”

“No.” They turned to look at Jeremy. “But it has to be the reason.”

Michael nodded. “Has anything like… that ever happened to you?”

Rich shrugged. “Once I had a third arm for a day or so.” He rubbed his side, “it hurt a lot though.”

“I read that it hurts when you think about it because your brain knows it’s not right and tries to fight it.”

“How did you even find anything about the squip? I tried to look it up for months after I first got it.”

Michael winked.

Rich scoffed. “So are we just supposed to… not mention it?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Michael paused for a second before adding, “and don’t teach him curse words either.”

Rich deflated. “Why not?”

“It just doesn’t seem right.”

“Fine.” Then he turned and loudly proclaimed, “Hey Jeremy! Get ready ‘cuz I’m gonna take you to the park!” Jeremy looked up, with flour still in his hair from earlier and syrup all over his face and hands. “... after Michael cleans you up. Do you have any other clothes for him?”

Michael stared at the messy child. “No.”

-

Michael changed out of his pajamas as Rich tried to figure out what size clothing to get Jeremy. Then, while Rich went to the store, Michael tried to clean Jeremy. He took Jeremy’s shirt off and pushed his head under the water from the sink. Jeremy, of course, hated that.

“No, Michael stop! I don’t wanna!” Jeremy pouted and his eyes watered.

“Sorry buddy. You’re all messy!” Michael put soap on his hands and rubbed Jeremy’s hair. Jeremy closed his eyes and pouted further. “Okay, lean back again.” Jeremy whined about it but complied.

Rich came back in just as he was wrapping Jeremy in a towel. “I can’t believe you made me go to the f--” Michael covered Jeremy’s ears with his towel, much to the boy’s protest. “store.” Rich finished.

“You’re the one who wanted to take him somewhere!” Michael argued, although he would’ve needed new clothes anyway.

“Jake would never believe me if I just told him about this!” Michael shrugged. 

“You brought it on yourself then.” Rich groaned, then handed Michael some clothes that looked like something Rich would wear, but smaller.

Jeremy pulled the towel off his head, his hair curlier and poofing out. Michael pulled the shirt over Jeremy’s head.

-

Michael tried desperately to catch up to Rich, who was carrying Jeremy on his back. The two seemed to be having fun, but Michael wasn’t. Rich was in a full on sprint, and even though his legs were shorter, Michael wasn’t nearly as in shape. “Stupid Rich and his stupid muscles.” Michael muttered under his breath.

Michael groaned and leaned against a lamp post. They had run across the street, and Michael couldn’t follow until the light turned red. Michael slowly sat down on the curb that separated the sidewalk from the grass as he tried to catch his breath. 

Michael’s thoughts ran faster than his legs ever could take him. What was he going to do with Jeremy? Was he going to tell Mr. Heere about this? How long would it even last? Was the squip bugging Jeremy before this? Did this mean the squip was coming back? Why-- 

Michael took off again as soon as the light changed. It’s not that he didn’t trust Rich, but he really didn’t. Not with Young-Jeremy, at least. 

Michael made it across two more streets before he slowed down. He made it to the park. Now he just had to find Jeremy, Rich, and Jake. That shouldn’t be too hard. He leaned against a tree as he tried to catch his breath. 

They weren’t at the playground from what he could tell. There wasn’t anyone on the benches. Four kids were playing on the basketball court. A couple was walking their dog, a few teenagers playing frisbee, a family having a picnic. Where was--? ...Oh no.

Michael cursed loudly as he ran to the middle of the park where the three were. “I leave you for five minutes!” Michael said angrily to Rich, although Rich was actually handling the situation… surprisingly well? Jeremy was on the ground sobbing and clutching his knees, while Rich was gently rubbing Jeremy’s shoulder as he softly hummed. Rich and Jake looked at Michael, then silently made their way to the closest park bench, Rich carrying Jeremy. As they sat down, Jake whispered an explanation to Michael.

“He was walking to close to my crutches. By the time I saw him it was too late. But Rich seems to know what he’s doing. Crazy, right? Totally not what I expected.” Michael nodded in agreement.

“Are you okay now?” Rich asked Jeremy.

“Umm… no. I’ll be okay over there though.” Jeremy said, crawling over Rich and Jake to get to Michael.

“Aww, he really likes you! Does regular Jeremy feel comfortable in your lap too?” All traces of the kindness Rich had used with Jeremy were now gone. 

Michael glared at him while Jake rolled his eyes and muttered, “C’mon dude.”

“What? They seem to be the type of couple that would be kinky and weird.” Rich shrugged.

“We’re not a couple!” Michael said.

Rich hummed mockingly. “Admit it. You’re totally gay for eachother.”

“No,” Michael froze, desperately trying to think of a good comeback. “ _You’re_ gay.” Michael mentally face-palmed.

Rich laughed. “Well, I’m _bi_ , but…” Rich looked at Jake and smirked, “close enough.”

“Who’s “regular” Jeremy?” Jeremy asked. Rich and Michael glanced at eachother and Jake just looked confused. Michael looked toward Rich again to see if he had any ideas how to answer, but Rich dragged Jake away, presumably to explain to Jake.

“Thanks Rich.” Michael muttered. Then he looked down at Jeremy, pulling out the Band-Aids he had brought last minute, putting them on Jeremy’s slightly bloody knees as he tried to think of a way to explain. “Remember how you have a friend named Michael?” Jeremy nodded. “Well, I have a friend named Jeremy. He’s the one we, um, regularly hang out with. He’s our… “regular” Jeremy.”

“Do you like him?” Jeremy asked innocently. Michael tried to keep his breathing even.

“Depends who you ask. Rich says we do, I think we’re just friends, and Jeremy likes a girl named Christine.”

“Oh.” Then Jeremy stood up and said, “can we go play on the swings?”

“Sure.” Michael walked over with Jeremy, Rich and Jake following close behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the end, I didn't want to make this about any particular ship, but Rich did ask if Michael was Jeremy's boyfriend at the end of the play so I felt it was in character for him to say something 
> 
> Also, feel free to suggest anything you want them to do! I know it didn't seem like it, but the recommendations I got for this chapter did help me go faster!
> 
> ((maybe this is just my computer, but it looks like it took the notes from the last chapter and just put it on this chapter? I don't know how to fix that, sorry))

**Author's Note:**

> Welp. This is officially the longest thing I've ever written. Baby Jeremy is based on my baby sister!
> 
> If you have anything you want to happen, please tell me. I only have a basic plotline and I would love it if you did.
> 
> I'm debating wether or not to let young Jeremy meet Rich...


End file.
